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Agenda

Day One | Wednesday | 27 May
7.50
Registration open and light refreshments provided 
8.30
Welcome to Country
8.50
Chairperson’s Introduction

Thelma Schwartz, Executive Director Legal, Queensland Indigenous Family Violence Legal Service (QIFVLS)


9.00
Opening Keynote: Forging a path of justice and unity for our Country

Join one of Australia’s leading changemakers, Stan Grant, as he talks to us about paving the way for our next generation with love and respect for one another and the collective strength to continue to fight for our communities and advocate for our culture, our way of life and our identity.


Stan Grant,  Journalist, Author, Moral philosopher, Thinker, Film maker and Communicator

Changemakers in Action

10.00
Creating change in policy, planning and law: The national picture

Join Kerry Staines, CEO of FNAAFV as she unpacks the national developments in policy and law reform towards culturally safe and holistic responses to domestic and family violence in First Nations communities.


Kerry Staines, Chief Executive Officer, First Nations Advocates Against Family Violence (FNAAFV)

10.30
From lived experience to systems change: Strengthening healing and advocacy
  • Connecting communities to create change

  • Creating cultural change in the way domestic and family violence is understood and responded to

  • Drawing on lived experience, collective leadership and trauma informed practice

 Yasmin Johnson, Chief Executive Officer, Maburra Collective Inc.

11.00
Morning tea
11.40
Panel: Empowering women, children and families: A human rights perspective
  • Helping families with proactive and preventative measures

  • Solutions that are grounded in culture and guided by community

  • Advocating for recognition of institutional barriers to advance human rights in community

Tahlia-Rose Vanissum, Strategic Director, First Nations Advocates Against Family Violence (FNAAFV)

Aletia Twist, Chief Executive Officer, Mura Koser

Jordyn Flagg, Manager, Community Strengthening, Wathaurong Aboriginal Corporation

Candice Hughes, Principal Solicitor, YFS Legal

12.30
Yarning Circles

A: U Right Sis? Empowering NT communities to identify and respond to technology-facilitated abuse: Join this yarn to hear about ‘U Right Sis?’ A primary prevention program bringing together specialist DFSV services and Aboriginal community-controlled organisations to educate First Nations women and young people on tech-facilitated abuse.

Rachel Neary, Women, Children and Family Violence Practice Lead, North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency


B: Yarning for Change: Indigenous trauma informed responses to violence: This culturally safe session is designed to empower and strengthen responses to domestic, family & sexual violence through, culturally safe, Indigenous trauma-informed training, community-centered approaches to supporting survivors and practical skills to enhance workforce capacity.

Marnie Davis, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Learning and Development Lead, Women up North Housing


C: Coercive control in a cultural context: Join this yarn to hear how Lena Passi Women's Shelter and WorkUP Queensland are working together with community to develop resources for safer communities in t he Torres Strait.

Rona Scherer, Senior Lead, Mamu – Kuku Yalanji, WorkUP Queensland

Theresa Kellett, Senior Project Officer, WorkUP Queensland

Georgina Binjuda, Manager, Lena Passi Women’s Shelter

Julia Yorkston, Project Officer, Lena Passi Women’s Shelter


D: Weaving session: Join this weaving session to connect with culture and one another as you explore a traditional practice that also serves as a mode of informal counselling.

1.30
Lunch
2.35
Concurrent sessions

** Attendees can move between the sessions listed under the two streams **

From Harm to Healing
2.35
Ripples of healing: Individual change, collective strength

Tracing the journey from individual harm to collective restoration

Georgina Ambrum, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Founding Practice Lead and Trainer – Domestic and Family Violence, Heart Based

3.05
BIRD - Believe Inquire Respond Disclose

Exploring an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander evidence based and led culturally responsive trauma informed training for skills development


Michael Currie, Mulunjali/ Yugembeh/ Bundjalung Man, Director of Sector Engagement and Innovation, SNAICC - National Voice for our Children

Beck Blore, Anaiwan Woman, Project Officer Sector Engagement and Innovation, SNAICC - National Voice for our Children

3.35
Afternoon tea
System Reform
4.05
From punitive pathways to healing journeys
  • Exploring the continuum of harm when local and state responses fail to address root causes

  • Centring Aboriginal lived experience and leadership

  • Reimagining systems that move from control to care

Christine Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, Cygnet Centre for Peace Building and Transformation

Murray Benton, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Peak (QATSICPP)

4.45
The need to rebuild Indigenous housing with community-led approaches
  • Understanding stable housing as central to healthy families and communities

  • Exploring the intersection of DFV and housing and homelessness

  • The need for system reform in housing to address the social determinants of health and wellbeing

Zachariah Matysek, Chief Executive Officer, National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Association

5.15
Chairperson closing comments
5.25
Community Social Gathering

Join us as we unwind and connect in a relaxed setting. You can enjoy entertainment, food and drinks as you yarn with one another about the inspiration derived from the day.

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Salus Events acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands where we live, learn and work. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

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